More Than Meets The Eye: Living With Ulcerative Colitis

Have you ever used Dr. Google to diagnose your own illness? I have and trust me it doesn’t work.

How about taking it a step further and researching your own treatment for that same self-diagnosed illness? I have done that too and it doesn’t work either. In fact it just makes matters a whole lot worse. The problem is that sometimes when you need help and nobody seems to know the answers it’s the only logical thing left to do. Well, after years of self-diagnosis and multiple doctors visits, I was finally and officially diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. Having never heard those words before, never mind understanding what it was, I was left a little bit clueless.

My problem was that every piece of information I was given was medical-based and I couldn’t find a single thing that was personally relatable. I mean the medical facts were great, but I had nothing to prepare me for the psychological stress, social awkwardness or unforeseen accidents that were about to barge their way into my life, changing me forever.

So I have decided to share my experiences, some personal stories and a few tips on what helped me, in the hope that someone who is suffering from Ulcerative Colitis can find some comfort that what they are going through is normal, can be overcome and that there really is a light at the end of the tunnel.